Individual wheel suspension means



1935. v. o. KROMM Er AL 2,

INDIVIDUAL WHEEL SUSPENSION MEANS Filed Dec. 16, 1935 Patented Dec. 17, 1935 2,024,372 INDIVIDUAL WHEEL SUSPENSION MEANS Valentine 0. Kromm, Brooklyn, Harry L.

Valley Stream, and Charles H. Courtney Guere, Brookly N. Y.

Kohl, de

Application December 1c, 1933, Serial No. 702,716

6 Claims. (01. 287-20) This invention relates to spring suspension for automobile bodies, and more especially to an individual wheel suspension means.

An object of the invention is to provide an individual wheel suspension system that can be easily attached to any motor vehicle chassis with few minor changes, or'built as a complete chassis. 8

Another object is to provide a wheel suspension wherein each wheel rides and is suspended in its own complete unit rigidly, and has full freedom of perpendicular movement without affecting the steering mechanism or flexible drive shaft, and which additionally provides full floating individual wheel movement and gives proper rigidity and provides ample safety factors.

All these and other objects, as suggested here below, are attained by the method and means now to be described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a side elevational the individual wheel suspension for one of the two front wheels of thevehicle.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view, vertical in character, the same as Fig. 1 but taken at an angle of 90 degrees thereto.

Fig; 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 but showing instead the individual wheel suspension device adapted for use on the rear wheels of the vehicle.

' Fig. 4 is a side vertical device of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a modified construction of the invention, being a partial individual wheel suspension for rear wheels already equipped with a transverse leaf spring suspension.

Fig. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view through the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. '7 is a somewhat diagrammatic view taken from the front .of an automobile equipped with the device of Fig. l to show the location of the device between the axle and wheel.

And Fig. 8 is a view similar to that of Fig. I but showing the device of Fig. 3 applied between the chassis and rear wheels.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views.

The patent art to date attests to the fact that many attempts have been made by motor vehicle manufacturers to develop a rigid chassis, with an individual wheel suspension system, in a combined rigid self-contained full floating unit. The results to date have been a series of expensive, complicated devices which only give partial individual wheel suspension.

view of one of elevational view of the devices adapted;

' the king-pin 23 With applicants.type of device it is necessary to change two important parts of the chassis; on the front, the placing of the steering radius 'rod and fulcrum arm above the chassis or wheel hub, in order to allow each wheel full individual 5 action and to eliminate any retarding action by the steering mechanism, which remains rigid at all times, regardless of the positions of either wheel. On the rear the differential is fastened solidly to the cross member of the chassis, and 10 in an elevated position to that of the wheel axles, thus providing a higher road clearance.

In the disclosed type of wheel suspension the rear wheels are driven by two'short Cardan or sliding shafts 36, 36, Fig. 8, coupled to the differential and wheel axle stub by universal joints; this type of drive is the only one which permits either of the wheels to move up or down in a perpendicular direction without affecting, or straining the flexible drive shafts.

In applicant's-invention each wheel rides and is suspended on its own complete unit rigidly, and has full freedom of perpendicular movement. The placing of the steering mechanismi. e., radius rod and fulcrum--above the wheels, eliminating road shock and makes the unit rigid, giving at the same time ease of control. By putting the differential in an elevated position in relation to the wheel axle and fastening it to the chassis solidly, allows the flexible drive shafts to adjust themselves easily to any required position and compensates the relative positions of the driven wheel and differential;

Applicant's individual wheel suspension for front wheels, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, 3

shows a flexible diamond construction comprising four members In, ll, l2 and, I3, the upper ends of members l0 and I3 being rotatable on pins l4, l5, respectively, rigidly secured to the chassis member l6 and pivoted around pins l1, l8, to the lower members ll, l2. Members H, l2 are rotatably fastened or mounted on bearing pins I9, 20, which are solidly attached to the wheel axle or stub 2i. Perpendicularly aligned guide holes, shown by the dotted line 22, house the king-pin or guide 23 which goes straight through the center in a perpendicular direction; the steering radius arm and fulcrum 24 is connected to the suspension unit at the top.

Two coil springs 25, 26 are attached horizontally together by having their outer ends attached through spring adjustors 21, 28 to flanges on members H, l3, respectively, and their inner ends attached to a sliding ring 29 through which passes, as shown. The expandetails.

means associated its collapsing, the link construction is adapted to slide,'said sion and contraction 0! these two horizontal springs, placed originally somewhat in tension, provide the springing action for the motor vehicle, be it automobile, railway car, omnibus, or what not.

The construction of the individual wheel suspension for the rear wheels, as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4, is similar to that for the front wheels as just described with the exception that in placed the king-pin 23 there are two stationary guides 3|, 32, from top to bottom of the diamond in perpendicular position as shown, and the sliding ring 30 has a somewhat larger diameter hole surrounding the outside pin 3| into the bore of which pin 32 is adapted to slide.

This type of individual wheel suspension can be adapted for use with transverse leaf springs and standard rear semi-elliptic springs in the manner shown in Fig. 5. the springs 25, 26 have been omitted from the view for the sake of clarity. Or, of course, one spiral spring might be inserted at the top of pin 32 so that a compression of the diamond would compress this spring.

The front wheels of the car are shown at 33, 33, Fig. 7, and the rear wheels at 34, 34, Fig. 8. The chassis bracket for the rear wheel suspension is shown at 35, and the diflerential at 39.

The construction shown in Fig. 5 is attached to the chassis at points 36, 3 1 and 38.

Attention is drawn to the fact that spring adjuster 21 is attached to a flanged lip projecting from member H in the lower part of the diamond while spring adjuster 28 is attached to a similar lip projecting from member l3 in the upper part of the diamond. The spring adjustors 21, 28 are of the screw type and adapted by the use of a tool projecting into holes on their peripheries to be turned to tighten or loosen the springs 25, 23. "Also attention is invited to the fact that the bearing pinends of the diamond members III, ll, 12, and I3 have their ends interlocked as shown, somewhat after the manner of an ordinary door hinge of the pin-holding type. The type of springs used as illustrated in this embodiment is spiral, but, of course, the invention is not limited toany such Having now described claimed as new and for which Letters Patent of' the United States is desired, is:

1.,An individual wheel suspension including a collapsible diamond-shaped link construction between chassis and wheel, and plural spring with the diamond link systenr arranged to simultaneously oiler a resistance to and a vertical support inwhich In this illustration immediately therebelow,

the invention, what is 1 plural spring means being positioned on either side of said vertical support, one of said spring means being directly connected to one of said lower links near its outer-end, and the other spring means directly connected to the opposite upper link near its outer end.

2. The invention as in"ciaim l, the spring means being positioned horizontally and connecting the extreme ends of the diamond system.

3. The invention as in claim 1, there being 1 two links attached together at one end and with their other ends disposed downwardly and outwardly from one another,- and two companion links positioned beneath and having their inner endsattached together to a chassis support and their outer ends projecting outwardly and upwardly and rotatably. fastened to the ends of the upper links, respectively.

the first pair 'of links 15 20 4. In combination in an individual wheel 'suspension, a body support and a wheel support a vertical guide adapted to restrict the relative movement of the two supports in a vertical line, a ring-like member slid- 2 ably surrounding the guide, a pair of pivoted members on each side of the guide and extendinglaterally therefrom and connecting one support with the other, and a horizontal spring connecting each pair of members ing ring.

5. Individual front wheel suspension means comprising a horizontal axle for mounting the .wheel, a vertical sliding member. adapted to carry the axle and to move towards and away from the body of the vehicle benerth its attaching support thereto, and horizpntal plural spring means acting simultaneously and arranged to hold said sliding support in resilient suspension to permit its movement by pressure from above or belo said vertical sliding memberbeing constrained to move in a vertical path through the dual action of a stationary king pin member enclosed within the sliding member and projecting downwardly from a static support above, and of a second vertical constraining member slidably en a ng a portion of the sliding member and also vertically suspended from above to the king-pin-securing member.

6. The invention as in claim 5.

means being horizontally positioned spiral springs and including means for adjusting-their tension and compression for diirerent loads or road conditions. 1

VALENTINE o. jxaomr, HARRY =n xorm c. mcoua'rsnr com.

with the Slid- 30.

the sprins o 

